Reid put forward the bill on Tuesday, as a way to meet Republican demands to begin considering bills related to the debt ceiling and budget deficit crises. If passed, the resolution would express the "sense of the Senate" and not carry the force of law.

The procedural vote, which demands 60-votes, was necessary because Republicans would not allow the bill, which they say is meaningless, to come to the floor by unanimous consent.

“The leadership in the Senate offered a nonbinding resolution designed solely to score some cheap political points that will jazz up the activist left to demagogic class warfare against individuals with high incomes,” Hatch warned. “I guarantee you, if we raise taxes, my friends on the other side will spend every dime of it.”